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Under the previous Enterprise Agreement, students could purchase a Microsoft
license for software for approximately $25. Per the Enterprise Agreement,
those licenses were valid as long as the Enterprise Agreement was in force
or if renewed. The consortium of the University of Wisconsin/Wisconsin Technical
College System (UW/WTCS) worked very hard to get Microsoft to renew that
Enterprise Agreement, however that was not accomplished and the agreement
expired on July 30, 2003.
The UW/WTCS consortium pleaded with Microsoft not to penalize students who
had already purchased software. As a result of those negotiations, Microsoft
agreed that students who had graduated before July 30, 2003 would have ownership.
Continuing students who have not graduated will not have ownership, but will
be able to “upgrade” to full licenses for an additional fee of
approximately $65.
All Microsoft software that is offered on the WISC web site as of now provides
full ownership rights to students. The price of the software is now approximately
$85, but students have full ownership rights and will not be at the mercy of
Microsoft’s changing policies. This price still represents a substantial
savings from the approximate retail price of $185 and discount price of $120.
Although the UW/WTCS consortium attempted through every means possible to
negotiate an agreement with Microsoft that would have continued to offer students
the benefits available under the original Enterprise Agreement without increasing
student costs, we could not reach an agreement with Microsoft.